24:33 without a shot

Against the Rangers, the Leafs went 24:33 without a shot. Considering that’s nearly half of regulation, I went back and watched the tape in order to find out what exactly was going on during this time.

3:32 was the time of the Leafs last shot before they finally shot again 24:33 later. There was a delayed penalty coming up on the play for the Rangers and the Leafs were working it around New York’s zone nicely resulting in a Kulemin slap shot from the top of the circle. The Leafs had five shots on net in the first 3:32 of the second and scored on one of them. Those were the only shots they would get all period.

From there, this is what happened:

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3:32: Bozak lost the ensuing faceoff and the puck was cleared.

3:33- 4:12: Toronto starts their breakout from their zone and gain New York’s zone. They work it around and lose possession and it gets cleared out. They fail to immediately gain the zone right after, getting stood up. After that they regroup and then gain the zone. MacArthur takes a shot but it gets deflected just wide.

5:11: Kessel tries a cross ice pass that gets picked off Brian Boyle. He then clears the puck. They get one last zone entry in, and after the penalty is expired, Grabovski gets a shot blocked by Callahan.

5:45: The Rangers come down on a 3 on 3 rush and Gunnarsson blocks a shot off the rush which gets the puck out. Grabovski gets it in deep and everybody changes, the Rangers rush up ice but aren’t able to gain the zone.

6:25- 6:55: The Rangers regroup, get some zone time, but no shots on net whatsoever on the Hamilton-McClement-Komarov line with O’Byrne and Liles playing defense. When the Leafs get it out they go for a line change, the Rangers catch the bad line change, Brassard has a mini breakaway, and Colton Orr takes him down for a penalty.

7:09- 7:37: The first 28 seconds of the power play consists of the Rangers winning the draw, losing the puck, having it cleared, and then dumping the puck in which bounces off the boards right to Reimer for a faceoff.

7:38- 8:34: The Leafs win the draw, get it out and deny zone entry until there’s a little under a minute left in the power play. The Rangers work it around and Ryan O’Byrne blocks a shot that bounces off the side of the net to the corner where he gets to it first and clears it down. 35 seconds left on the power play now.

8:59: Richards releases a slap shot after the Rangers gain the zone once more. Reimer makes the save and the puck deflects up and into the mesh.

9:00- Bozak wins the draw, O’Byrne’s clearing attempt gets held in by McDonaugh at the point. The Rangers have two shot attempts blocked, and the Leafs clear the zone. The Leafs get back to 5 on 5, put the Kadri line out there and establish zone time for about 30 seconds. Liles takes a shot from the point finally but it’s wide.

10:35- 10:55: The Rangers turn the play up ice with the Kadri line still out there, the puck works around to the point, McDonaugh takes a shot on net and Hagelin pots in the rebound for a goal. Carlyle puts out the Kessel line after the goal, and the puck gets dumped in the Leafs zone, the Leafs breakout, and Kessel has a puck deflect off his stick and out in New York’s zone. After the next neutral zone faceoff the puck gets dumped down into the Leafs end for an icing.

11:58 Kadri loses the draw, the Rangers breakout cleanly, and Callahan gets a shot off the rush. The Leafs put Bozak’s line back out for the draw, he wins it, the Leafs get the puck out, lose possession, the Rangers turn back into the Leafs zone, they get a point shot, lose possession and the puck scrums out.

12:51: New York ices the puck and out comes McClement’s line. McClement gets kicked out of the faceoff circle for reasons nobody understands. Komarov comes in, loses the draw, the Rangers clear it and change lines.

13:37: Toronto dumps it back in deep, the Leafs cycles the puck for nearly 20 seconds, don’t generate a shot, and the Rangers turn up ice on a 3 on 3 and John Moore gets a shot from the boards. The Leafs clear it out after that and then the Rangers ice it in part because Liles beat Boyle to the puck in a pretty close race.

13:59: Bozak goes out, wins the draws, Liles wraps it around the boards and the Rangers win the battles to get it out. The Leafs get the puck in the netural, dump it back in, failing to turn it over on the forecheck. The Leafs once again get the puck in the neutral zone again and again dump it back in.

14:35: This time Toronto does get the puck. Grabovski is on the ice with Kessel and JVR because of line changes and the Leafs get the puck. Grabovski gets the puck and attempts to put it on net but just misses. The Leafs maintain possession, work it at the point and Fraser attempts a shot that also misses the net.

15:28: Franson mishandles a pass back to his point and the puck squeaks out. The Leafs dump it back in and the rest of Grabovski’s line gets out there. The Rangers dump it in, work it to the point and Colton Orr blocks a shot then skates up ice with it attempting a shot that just misses the net.

The McClement line comes out as the fourth line changes while in the Rangers zone. The puck goes into the Leafs zone, they get it out, turn it over in the offensive zone. The Rangers get it back in the Leafs zone, Toronto clears the zone and starts to change.

16:28: Liles dumps the puck in because of the change happening, but the puck hits the ref and stays in the neutral zone so as the Leafs change the Rangers turn up on an even man rush and Hagelin throws a puck on net off of it but Reimer fails to hold it in his glove.

NOTE: While re-watching, I could actually hear Liles say “come on” when the puck hits the ref.

16:46: It bounces into the corner, the Rangers get the puck back to the point, and McDonaugh scores.

16:58: The Kadri line stays out there and goes offside. McClement’s line comes back out there for the offside faceoff, gets it in deep and back to Phaneuf. He tries to direct a weak shot on net but misses.

17:33: The Rangers turn up ice, Phaneuf blocks a shot off the rush and then ices it.

18:03: McClement gets kicked out of the faceoff circle for reasons nobody knows but Komarov still wins the draw. The Leafs get it out, New York dumps it back in, Toronto gets it out again and the Rangers go offside.

18:26: Kessel’s line comes out for the offside faceoff and they dump the puck deep in the Rangers zone. They fail to regain possession, the Rangers turn it up ice and McDonaugh shoots the puck on net from the goal line of the corner of the zone off the rush. Kessel turns the puck over in the neutral zone, the Rangers go back up ice, Nash has a shot deflected, but regains possession, and MDZ gets a shot on net.

19:30: Bozak comes on and scrums the draw to the corner. The Rangers win the battle for the puck, some board play follows and the Leafs get it out. McClement chips it off the glass to Bozak who would have had a breakaway, but the refs blow the whistle stating the puck hit the rounded corner of the glass which is considered out of bounds. The replays look like they should have let the play continue but it’s a close call.

From there, McClement gets kicked out of another draw, Komarov loses it, the Rangers turn up ice and Clowe’s shot gets deflected into the mesh.

Bozak wins the defensive zone draw, the Leafs get it out immediately, the puck goes to Gunnarsson on the point in the Rangers zone but there isn’t enough time left for him to get a shot on net.

END OF SECOND PERIOD

Third period starts with the Kessel line, the Rangers get it in deep, the Leafs breakout cleanly, and the end result is an offside as Kessel tried to enter the zone with Bozak still in it.

1:23: The ‘new’ McClement-Grabovski-Komarov line goes on for the faceoff, but changes immediately because Nash isn’t out there. Kadri’s line comes on but Gunnarsson takes a penalty for holding Boyle off of the rush. Boyle gets a shot on the play but misses the net. Fan on a puck in the slot

Bozak wins the draw after the penalty and the Leafs get it out. The Rangers do gain the zone afterward and work it around for around 30 seconds without a shot and the Leafs get it out.

3:23: The Leafs kill off the rest of the penalty as the Rangers aren’t able to gain the zone again in the final minute.

New York does get a rush as the penalty is ending, but Kadri blocked a McDonaugh pass as the defenseman had the puck in the Toronto’s slot.

Toronto turns up ice and gets it in deep but is unable to come up with it again.

4:27: The Leafs change lines and Boyle comes up ice and shoots it from the top circle but his body is touching the boards as he does. The rebound pops up in the air and Asham hits it out of midair right back at Reimer.

4:58: MacArthur-Grabovski-Kulemin come out for the defensive zone draw, get the puck out and in the Rangers zone, but can’t come up with possession. The Rangers dump the puck into Toronto’s zone and Phaneuf takes a penalty on Mats Zucarello.

From there, Bozak wins the draw and the Leafs get it out. Rangers gain the zone, Callahan takes a shot from the slot and Fraser blocks it. The Leafs clear it again. There’s still over a minute left on the power play. The Rangers gain the zone and Franson blocks a point shot but New York maintains possession. Komarov eventually tips the puck out of the zone.

Then, McClement-Kulemin come on, get the puck out and Kulemin gets a one-on-one against Brassard. He goes around and gets tripped. No penalty.

6:40: The puck goes up ice, McClement turns it over but shoots it out of bounds at the Rangers bench. There’s 18 seconds left on the penalty now so Kadri-Komarov come out for the draw. Kadri wins it, they get it in deep and then when New York tries to come back up ice Komarov turns it over and shoots it down again.

7:05: Kessel’s line comes on, the puck bounces around the neutral zone. Eventually Toronto gains possession in the D zone, breakout and then turn it back over in the neutral zone again. The Rangers get it in deep, work it to the point…

The Leafs also had a partial Kulemin breakaway halted by a trip that was a missed call. Bozak had a clear breakaway whistled down on a funny stanchion play. Looks like that call could have gone either way.

NOTES:

– The Rangers got a fortunate bounce for the McDonaugh goal, but the Leafs got a pretty lucky bounce too leading to Kessel’s tying goal.

– The Leafs consistently were forced to dump the puck in and forecheck during this shot drought. They were unable to effectively shoot the puck in and come out with it, which was the biggest problem here.

– The Leafs best players at skating the puck into the offensive zone are Kessel, Kadri, Grabovski and Lupul. If they are getting bottled up that hurts the Leafs a lot, as you can see here.

– The McClement line was fine at keeping shots to the outside when they were on, but without Grabovski – who later joined that line —they found it hard to actually get the puck and do something effective with it.

– Linesmen have been brutal this year when it comes to kicking guys out of the faceoff circle. The Leafs had a few offensive zone draws get wasted because their primary faceoff man was kicked out and then the winger lost it.

– Kadri was being put in tough situations, and finding it hard to produce or really do his thing offensively. His next step will be having to find ways to generate speed through the neutral zone with the puck on his stick and gaining the zone himself.

– The Leafs killed off three penalties in this time. It really took them out of the flow of things. Grabovski, even though he was on the fourth line, really got lost in the shuffle here in particular. The Kadri line also struggled for ice time, and then they were on for a goal once they got back on.

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Anthony Petrielli has been at MLHS since 2011. He is known for his weekly "Leafs Notebook" feature, and also writes specific analysis pieces. You can contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter at @APetrielli.